We have now lived in our newly built house for a year. And we love it. We hired Cameron Contracting after being very impressed in our first few meetings with them. Once the estimate was given and the contract signed, they got to work. Kristy organized and planned each step. It was a joy working with her. She was organized, efficient and experienced. Derek, the site manager came nearly every day at 8am and checked that everything was done well and to plan. He would explain any process to us.
We got site visits every step of the way and saw for ourselves the quality of the work done. I was so impressed with how happy all the builders were. They seemed to like their jobs, they worked well with each other and didn’t cut corners.
We got detailed invoices each month. At the end of the build - it took a little over 5 months to complete from breaking ground - they were on time and bang on the estimate given. Wow.
Don Cameron was, of course, at the first few meetings, before the contract was signed, but more impressively, he checked in with us at the end. He came for a visit and asked me if anything was not working. I showed him the kitchen tap which was a little loose and he had a plumber there that afternoon.
We would heartily recommend Cameron Contracting to anyone who wants a quality build done within the estimate. It really was an enjoyable experience.
Debbie Sehn
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September 27, 2024
Cameron Contracting built us a beautiful Carriage House. We are from out of town and relied heavily on Cameron's group to supervise and execute our build. From the attention to details, quality of workmanship and expertise in design, Cameron hit a homerun for us. We are very grateful in our decision to team up with them and support such a great group and family!
Caroline Wrobel
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October 27, 2024
When we initially started with Cameron, we thought we were lucky to have found a local, family-run business with lots of experience, especially since we did not yet live in the valley and so we were trusting them to manage things without us there. By the end of our experience, which ended in a lawsuit after being invoiced almost 70% more than was originally budgeted, we felt completely duped and violated.
Our key concerns and experiences (and red flags):
a) it became clear that nobody was monitoring the spending and tracking of whether they were anywhere close to the budget, and we later learned that the project manager Cory had absolutely no knowledge of what the budget even was even though he was directing all of the trades;
b) being notified in late January or early Feb (after a lot of prodding) that the completion timeline of February was no longer possible and the timeline was now June, 4 months later;
c) requests for budget status updates without any updates provided, for months;
d) poor to no communication about potential cost increases to be able to course correct on the scope and finishings if and as needed; and
e) being billed rates higher than were in our contract.
Since moving in and getting to know our neighbours, we have heard from several of them that they were shocked at the slow pace of progress on the property. One neighbour said they knew it was a cost plus contract because of how slow people were working. We didn’t even need to warn neighbours about Cameron, they witnessed it for themselves.
Ben John
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October 19, 2024
We hired Cameron Contracting to do a full house reno. After a few months of planning, design, and demolition, they provided us a detailed budget totaling $296k. By the time they stopped working less than 6 months later, their invoices had skyrocketed to $557k, and we spent an extra $27k on unfinished work. They told us that the overages were due mostly to “scope changes”, but their definition of a scope change includes things like:
∙ $31k extra (150% over) for cabinetry and counters because we supposedly selected “high end” finishes and included a wet bar "that a typical house doesn’t have", even though they were given all those specs before they provided us the budget
∙ $37k extra (155% over) in flooring even though we had selected 85% of all flooring before they provided us with the budget (their initial estimate didn’t even cover the installation cost of the flooring)
∙ Tens of thousands more in other items that they refused to explain to us because “the money was already spent so we owed it to them no matter what”
When we asked them why the costs were so high when they’d been provided comprehensive specifications upfront, they told us they didn’t use our specifications to come up with the budget and relied on “their experience” instead.
They also misled or withheld info from us regularly about many other aspects of the project, including:
∙ Telling us the total duration would be 4 months when that timeframe was never going to be possible
∙ Failing to inform us (verbally or in writing) that the budget didn’t include their 15% markup on materials and subtrades (despite saying Total Cost) and not correcting us when we emailed them stating our understanding
∙ Invoicing us $17k extra (25% more) in labour by billing us rates higher than our contract specified and invoicing us for project management when the contract said it was provided for free, then hiding it from us
∙ Not telling us that the work site had been shut down by a building inspector for weeks because they didn’t obtain building permits (we only found out when got a $500 fine)
We repeatedly sent them messages seeking assurances that the budget was on track and they regularly ignored or dismissed them, taking 3 months to do a promised “full file review” which was given to us 1 month before we moved in. That “full file review” still underestimated the final cost to complete the work by more than $85k.
Cameron Contracting compromised our financial future by consistently misleading us through the entirety of the renovation. We felt totally duped after trusting a “family run business” that acted as though this level of budget overage was no big deal. We were lucky not to have to sell our home to cover their massive overages. I’m sure there are contractors in the Comox Valley with honesty, integrity, and competence, but our experience with Cameron Contracting shows that they aren’t one of them.
Melissa Black
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June 05, 2024
Helping our family with a family home renovation. Top notch support and service on our renovation. Unbelievably experienced. Gives you as much as you realistically need and strives hard to stay in your budget. Great team of people, a family company through and through. Can’t say enough great about them.
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1089 Braidwood Rd, Courtenay, BC V9N 3S1, Canada
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We have now lived in our newly built house for a year. And we love it. We hired Cameron Contracting after being very impressed in our first few meetings with them. Once the estimate was given and the contract signed, they got to work. Kristy organized and planned each step. It was a joy working with her. She was organized, efficient and experienced. Derek, the site manager came nearly every day at 8am and checked that everything was done well and to plan. He would explain any process to us. We got site visits every step of the way and saw for ourselves the quality of the work done. I was so impressed with how happy all the builders were. They seemed to like their jobs, they worked well with each other and didn’t cut corners. We got detailed invoices each month. At the end of the build - it took a little over 5 months to complete from breaking ground - they were on time and bang on the estimate given. Wow. Don Cameron was, of course, at the first few meetings, before the contract was signed, but more impressively, he checked in with us at the end. He came for a visit and asked me if anything was not working. I showed him the kitchen tap which was a little loose and he had a plumber there that afternoon. We would heartily recommend Cameron Contracting to anyone who wants a quality build done within the estimate. It really was an enjoyable experience.
Cameron Contracting built us a beautiful Carriage House. We are from out of town and relied heavily on Cameron's group to supervise and execute our build. From the attention to details, quality of workmanship and expertise in design, Cameron hit a homerun for us. We are very grateful in our decision to team up with them and support such a great group and family!
When we initially started with Cameron, we thought we were lucky to have found a local, family-run business with lots of experience, especially since we did not yet live in the valley and so we were trusting them to manage things without us there. By the end of our experience, which ended in a lawsuit after being invoiced almost 70% more than was originally budgeted, we felt completely duped and violated. Our key concerns and experiences (and red flags): a) it became clear that nobody was monitoring the spending and tracking of whether they were anywhere close to the budget, and we later learned that the project manager Cory had absolutely no knowledge of what the budget even was even though he was directing all of the trades; b) being notified in late January or early Feb (after a lot of prodding) that the completion timeline of February was no longer possible and the timeline was now June, 4 months later; c) requests for budget status updates without any updates provided, for months; d) poor to no communication about potential cost increases to be able to course correct on the scope and finishings if and as needed; and e) being billed rates higher than were in our contract. Since moving in and getting to know our neighbours, we have heard from several of them that they were shocked at the slow pace of progress on the property. One neighbour said they knew it was a cost plus contract because of how slow people were working. We didn’t even need to warn neighbours about Cameron, they witnessed it for themselves.
We hired Cameron Contracting to do a full house reno. After a few months of planning, design, and demolition, they provided us a detailed budget totaling $296k. By the time they stopped working less than 6 months later, their invoices had skyrocketed to $557k, and we spent an extra $27k on unfinished work. They told us that the overages were due mostly to “scope changes”, but their definition of a scope change includes things like: ∙ $31k extra (150% over) for cabinetry and counters because we supposedly selected “high end” finishes and included a wet bar "that a typical house doesn’t have", even though they were given all those specs before they provided us the budget ∙ $37k extra (155% over) in flooring even though we had selected 85% of all flooring before they provided us with the budget (their initial estimate didn’t even cover the installation cost of the flooring) ∙ Tens of thousands more in other items that they refused to explain to us because “the money was already spent so we owed it to them no matter what” When we asked them why the costs were so high when they’d been provided comprehensive specifications upfront, they told us they didn’t use our specifications to come up with the budget and relied on “their experience” instead. They also misled or withheld info from us regularly about many other aspects of the project, including: ∙ Telling us the total duration would be 4 months when that timeframe was never going to be possible ∙ Failing to inform us (verbally or in writing) that the budget didn’t include their 15% markup on materials and subtrades (despite saying Total Cost) and not correcting us when we emailed them stating our understanding ∙ Invoicing us $17k extra (25% more) in labour by billing us rates higher than our contract specified and invoicing us for project management when the contract said it was provided for free, then hiding it from us ∙ Not telling us that the work site had been shut down by a building inspector for weeks because they didn’t obtain building permits (we only found out when got a $500 fine) We repeatedly sent them messages seeking assurances that the budget was on track and they regularly ignored or dismissed them, taking 3 months to do a promised “full file review” which was given to us 1 month before we moved in. That “full file review” still underestimated the final cost to complete the work by more than $85k. Cameron Contracting compromised our financial future by consistently misleading us through the entirety of the renovation. We felt totally duped after trusting a “family run business” that acted as though this level of budget overage was no big deal. We were lucky not to have to sell our home to cover their massive overages. I’m sure there are contractors in the Comox Valley with honesty, integrity, and competence, but our experience with Cameron Contracting shows that they aren’t one of them.
Helping our family with a family home renovation. Top notch support and service on our renovation. Unbelievably experienced. Gives you as much as you realistically need and strives hard to stay in your budget. Great team of people, a family company through and through. Can’t say enough great about them.